Start investing when you are young and sock away as much as you can! You should pray that we get a nasty bear market so you can buy more stock at a lower price. Allocate a fixed amount per month or per paycheck and you will be "dollar cost averaging." This will usually give you a good average price for stocks. If you are young you should put most of your money in the stock market. How old are you? Do you have a steady income stream? How much can you save? Does your employer have a matching retirement program?